Bureaucratic Bungling at City Hospital Cost Brooklyn Man His Leg
On Sep. 22, 2015, Delfino Cuautle, father of three, had to undergo an emergency amputation of his leg above the knee due to a series of bureaucratic bungling at Coney Island Hospital, NYC. The 13 hours delay in surgery triggered the need for amputation of Cuautle’s leg. Cuautle filed a medical malpractice lawsuit at Brooklyn Federal Court. The jury awarded him $24 million for his suffering that could have been easily prevented had timely treatment been initiated.
Doctors’ Negligence Leaves Newborn Baby Motherless
While they might be some of the smartest people globally, doctors are still only human, and humans are bound to make mistakes. But, these errors can sometimes be fatal and account for medical malpractice. Such was the case for 28-year-old Athena Natal. During childbirth in 2013, a large part of her placenta was left behind in the uterus, leading to her painful death a few days after bringing a beautiful baby girl into the world.
Broken Jaw and $14k Bill After a Routine Biopsy
Lorraine Evans, now 85, woke up in the hospital after a routine biopsy procedure to find that her jaw had been broken during the procedure, and she had been handed a $14,000 medical bill. Unaware of the extent of the damage initially, she went to see another doctor for the pain and discovered how badly she had been dealt with at her previous hospital. She filed a medical malpractice lawsuit at Bronx Supreme Court in 2015 against the hospital responsible for the incident.
Did Medical Misdiagnosis Kill a Seven-Year-Old Girl in NYC Hospital?
A seven-year-old girl died at the Brooklyn based Woodhull Hospital in 2018 following an alleged medical misdiagnosis. A’Mari Murriel-Johnson’s mother believes that the hospital and the doctor were directly responsible for her daughter’s death because her condition worsened due to the “doctor’s negligence.”
SI Cerebral Palsy Teen Won $100M Lawsuit Against Hospital
When Stephanie Debes and her twin sister, Amanda, were born prematurely, they had no idea that the life of one of them would be eons away from the other despite them being twins. The family won a $100 million medical malpractice lawsuit in 2012 against the hospital where the twins were born. Stephanie was a teenager at the time the court announced the verdict.
NYC Man Paralyzed After Spending Two Hours Untreated in Lincoln Hospital ER
A Lincoln Hospital patient was left paralyzed after having to wait two hours in the ER before receiving treatment. In Sep. 2014, Anthony Medlin was brought into the hospital by ambulance and was wrongfully declared low risk by the staff. His condition was labeled as a minor facial injury, but it was far more severe in reality.
Medlin was examined by a physician after his two-hour wait and was immediately taken for surgery. But by the time the surgery was done, he was irreversibly paralyzed from the waist down.
NYC Woman Commits Suicide Due to Hospital Staff’s Negligence
A woman committed suicide in NYC by jumping off a Midtown hotel in 2018 because she wasn’t provided adequate care by a city hospital. Jiawen Liu, a young Brooklyn resident, was found dead on the Wolcott Hotel’s second-story balcony after being discharged from the Bellevue Hospital just a few hours earlier.
According to NY Post, Liu had been brought to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after showing suspicious behavior and was allegedly discharged prematurely, leading to the eventual suicide. Her family has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital. Liu died because of the city hospital staff’s negligence and carelessness, the lawsuit filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court alleges.
Findings Reveal Shocking Number of Wrongful Deaths in NYC Hospitals
Recent findings have revealed a horrifying truth about the standard of healthcare in New York City hospitals. During the last five years, 468 people died in the city’s 11 public hospitals due to medical malpractice and negligence.
Woman Died in NYC Hospital During C-Section
A Brooklyn woman died while giving birth at the Woodhull Medical Center on July 3, 2020. Shaasia Washington, 26, visited the medical center for a routine stress test. At the same time, she was pregnant and past her due date by a few days.
According to the Insider report, the Latino woman had abnormally high blood pressure while at the hospital. The staff decided to keep her under observation and induce childbirth with the help of Pitocin, a drug used to stimulate uterine contractions. The medical staff reportedly asked Shaasia if she wanted an epidural, to which she hesitatingly agreed.
Tragic Tales of Medical Blunders at NYC Hospitals
During the past five years, medical malpractice and negligence at NYC’s 11 public hospitals have caused 468 deaths. The NY Post’s analysis of the city comptroller data obtained through a Freedom of Information request found that the city has paid 56 families around $34 million since 2014. The city-wide compensations were given on account of settlements against wrongful death claims made by the victims’ families.
About 72 percent of the 106 wrongful-death lawsuits filed against HHC hospitals in 2014 are still awaiting verdicts. Out of all the hospitals operating under the NYC Health and Hospital Corporation, the King’s County Hospital had the highest number of wrongful-death claims, facing 91 lawsuits between 2014 and 2018.
